By MARCIA DUNN, Associated Press Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman urged senators on Wednesday to take swift action on his bid to lead NASA, after being yanked and then renominated by President Donald Trump.

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Isaacman appeared before the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in Washington eight months after his first nomination hearing. The tech entrepreneur who’s rocketed into orbit twice with SpaceX stressed the need for “full-time leadership” at NASA as the space agency prepares to send astronauts back to the moon early next year.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been filling in as NASA’s acting administrator since summer.

Returning astronauts to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years will be “a challenging endeavor to say the least,” Isaacman told the committee led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

NASA is targeting early next year for a lunar flyaround by four astronauts. They won’t land on the moon; that would happen in another mission. The goal is to beat the Chinese there by the end of the decade.

“This is not the time for delay but a time for action because if we fall behind — if we make a mistake — we may never catch up, and the consequences could shift the balance of power here on Earth,” Isaacman told the committee.

Cruz agreed. “NASA cannot take its eyes off the ball,” he said, referring to China’s looming moon plans. “The United States must remain the unquestioned leader in space exploration.”

Isaacman was within days of being confirmed by the Senate as NASA’s 15th administrator when Trump pulled his nomination in May. The move came soon after Trump’s falling out with SpaceX’s Elon Musk. The president renominated Isaacman last month.

Cruz said Isaacman’s second appearance “feels a bit like Groundhog Day” and hopes to have him confirmed by the end of the year.

The 42-year-old founder of the payment processing company Shift4 performed the world’s first private spacewalk last fall. He bankrolled both of his spaceflights. Several astronauts were present for the hearing, including some of Isaacman’s own crewmates.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

For those who plan their traveling around food, there’s a new gastronomic ranking that puts Bay Area cities way up there.

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The readers of Conde Nast Traveler have weighed in for its annual travel awards, and in the category of food cities, Oakland takes first place while San Francisco scores fifth.

Also placing in the top 15 cities are (to no surprise) New Orleans and Chicago, and (perhaps to slight surprise) burgs in Ohio and Hawaii.

Chiming in with more than 750,000 votes, the readers praised Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood, specifically for the restaurants Burdell and Pizzaiolo, and the Fruitvale District for its taco trucks and the “best birria in the country.”

San Francisco ranked for its farm-to-table cuisine and Pacific seafood, as well as the offerings from the oldest Chinatown in America. Also in California, San Diego came in 10th place for its Filipino food, fish tacos and craft-brew industry. Here are the first 10 on the list; for the full accounting check out the readers’ awards.

The best U.S. food cities in 2025, from CN Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards

1 Oakland

2 New Orleans

3 Milwaukee

4 Chicago

5 San Francisco

Blackened fish over grits is served by chef Geoff Davis at Burdell, a soul food restaurant in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

6 Lexington, Ky.

7 Columbus, Ohio

8 Santa Fe, N.M.

9 New York City

10 San Diego

Source: https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-food-cities-in-the-us-readers-choice-awards

We love those classic Christmas recordings.

And we cherish the chance to hear Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, the Beach Boys, Darlene Love and other greats sing these standards each and every Christmas season.

Yet, we also like to spice things up and add some new voices to our holiday playlist.

Thankfully, we never have any shortage of contenders trying to make the cut. That’s because there are dozens upon dozens of new Christmas albums released each season.

We’ve combed through the offerings and have come up with what we consider to be the best of the bunch.

Here are our picks for the top 10 new Christmas albums for 2025:

1. “On This Winter’s Night: Volume 2,” Lady A

The country act’s first seasonal offering, 2012’s “On This Winter’s Night,” was a joyous affair that included sparkling versions of such Christmas classics as “The First Noel” and “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”

Thirteen years later, the platinum-plus-selling Nashville trio — consisting of lead vocalists Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley as well as the multi-talented Dave Haywood — returns with an equally good follow-up record.

This second installment, in what hopefully will grow into a lengthy series, includes solid takes on “O Holy Night,” “Winter Wonderland” and other favorites. It also features guest appearances from Ricky Skaggs on “Why We Sing Noel” and Chris Tomlin on an absolutely gorgeous version of “Silent Night.”

Listen to: “Silent Night” (featuring Chris Tomlin)

2. “Greatest Gift of All,” Stryper

The holidays are about to get heavy – but in the right way – as powerhouse metal act Stryper finally releases its first-ever Christmas album.

The SoCal outfit, best known for the platinum-selling ‘80s offering “To Hell with the Devil,” thoroughly rocks us around the Christmas tree as it thunders through a mix of holiday classics and originals.

As far as the latter goes, we are really enjoying turning up the volume on “Still the Light” — which features some blistering guitar work from Michael Sweet and Oz Fox — and the Black Sabbath-esque “On This Holy Night.”

Truly great stuff from Christian metal’s most legendary band.

Listen to: “Still the Light”

3. “Greatest Hits Christmas,” LeAnn Rimes

The country crooner — blessed with one of the finest singing voices in the history of the genre — has a long history with holiday recordings. It began in the mid-‘90s when she recorded “Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart” as a promotional/bonus single for her blockbuster major-label debut, “Blue,” and has continued through the years.

This generous collection, which is big enough to warrant a double-LP release for vinyl fans, gathers up so many of her classic Christmas recordings — “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” to “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” — as well as three new cuts.

Collectively, these songs serve to underscore that Rimes stands among the greatest Christmas music interpreters of the last 30 years.

Listen to: “Little Drummer Boy”

4. “Let Me Carry You This Christmas,” Darius de Haas

The versatile vocalist has quite a track record in the theater world, having appeared in Broadway productions of “Rent,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Carousel,” “Marie Christine” and other plays. He’s also fashioned an impressive career as a concert/recording artist, performing with both the Boston and Cincinnati pops orchestras and releasing a number of albums.

Now, he’s making his mark in the seasonal music realm with this 11-track outing. He’s blessed with a beautiful voice — which many know from him doing the singing parts for the character of Shy Baldwin on Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” — and he puts it to great use on “The First Noel,” “Silent Night” and other holiday tunes.

Listen to: “Who Would Imagine a King”

5. “Come Home for Christmas,” Matthew West

The contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, who gave voice to such chart-topping hits as “More,” “You Are Everything,” “Hello, My Name Is,” “Grace Wins,” “Broken Things” and “The God Who Stays,” is inviting music lovers to “Come Home for Christmas.”

This eight-song offering follows is yet another Christmastime delight for West, who previously recorded “The Heart of Christmas” in 2011 and “We Need Christmas” in 2021. The set is a mix of original tunes and holiday standards. And, as an added bonus, it even includes a “kids version” of West’s excellent Thanksgiving ode “Gobble Gobble.”

Listen to: “Because of Bethlehem”

6. “Nollaig — A Christmas Journey,” Celtic Woman

These PBS favorites originally came together for a one-off performance in Dublin, Ireland, in 2004 and are still going strong 21 years later. And now they are embarking on “A Christmas Journey.”

It is not — to put it mildly — their first such journey. Celtic Woman, which some have described as “’Riverdance’ for the voice,” has released approximately 215,334 seasonal albums over the years.

Or it could be 215,335 — since the group might have released another since I started writing this.

The reason the collective keeps releasing holiday platters — and the reason we keep buy them — is that it does a really good job with the Christmas songbook.

And that’s certainly the case, once again, with this fine collection of wintery tunes.

Listen to: “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”

7. “Christmas Time Is Here,” Herb Alpert

The legendary trumpeter — who turned 90 earlier this year — has delivered such a gorgeous set of Latin-flavored holiday songs with “Christmas Time Is Here.”

The collection of mostly instrumentals kicks off with a true jaw-dropper — with Alpert pouring such emotion and feeling into a softly held version of “Feliz Navidad” — and then continues to shine through such Christmas classics as “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Sleigh Ride.”

Of course, this is not the first holiday rodeo for Alpert, who achieved massive success with 1968’s “Christmas Album” — recorded with his Tijuana Brass band — and then followed up with the well-received “Christmas Wish” some 50 years later.

Listen to: “Feliz Navidad”

8. “Christmas,” Natalie Grant

A lot has happened since this Seattle native released her first seasonal offering — “Believe” — in 2005. For starters, she won a mind-blowing four consecutive Dove Awards for female vocalist of the year from 2006-2009. (And then she’d add a fifth such trophy to her collection in 2012.)

Twenty years after “Believe,” Grant returns with “Christmas,” another gorgeous set of holiday favorites (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” etc.) and other tunes. We especially love her work with MercyMe’s Bart Millard on “Silent Night.”

Listen to: “Silent Night”

9. “Snow Globe Town,” Brad Paisley

“Brad Paisley Christmas” was a fine holiday affair, filled with cool covers of seasonal staples (“Silent Night,” “Winter Wonderland,” etc.) as well as a few more unorthodox selections (notably, the PC-diss-track “Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday”).

The country music star’s long-awaited follow-up — coming 19 years after that first 2006 Christmas outing — is another intriguing platter that mixes tradition and novelty.

Paisley, a decent vocalist and excellent guitarist, sounds like he’s having a blast on “That Crazy Elf (On the Shelf),” “A Marshmallow World” and other fun tunes. Yet, listeners are likely to enjoy his work on the slower numbers even more.

Listen to: “The First Noel”

10. “It’s Christmas,” Eric Benet

The R&B crooner, responsible for such top 10 hits as “Spiritual Thang,” “Femininity,” “Let’s Stay Together” and “Spend My Life With You,” returns with his 10th full-length studio outing — which also happens to be his second offering of 2025.

“It’s Christmas,” which follows the release of “The Co-Star” in June,” is warm and smooth from start to finish, as Benet brings his equally sophisticated and soulful approach to “Please Come Home for Christmas” and other favorites.

When Benet sings a song like “Christmas Time Is Here,” it feels like you’re both in the same room, tipping back cups of eggnog and enjoying a softly glowing fire.

Listen to: “Oh Holy Night”

 

Coffee is so much a part of our culture that it’s easy to forget how complex it can be to brew a consistently good cup.

“Coffee, unfortunately is very, very easy to screw up at home. It’s one of those tricky things,” said Heather Perry, chief executive officer of the rapidly growing Klatch Coffee chain.

Specialty Coffee Association of America proclaimed Perry the nation’s best barista in 2007, after a Long Beach competition. She went on to the World Barista Championship in Tokyo, where she came in second.

Perry has mastered the complexities of coffee. She and her staff share their knowledge in three-hour, $150 classes at Klatch’s headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga. Topics include brewing methods, using an espresso machine and the art of the latte.

But what if you’re not ready for that?

“As complicated as coffee is, it’s pretty simple to improve most people’s coffee program at home,” she said.

The equipment

There are two main brewing methods.

Drip is when hot water filters through coffee grounds. Home brewing machines make eight to 12 cups of coffee, usually taking several minutes. Espresso is when hot water is forced through coffee in a special machine. Home espresso machines make one or two shots at a time in less than a minute.

If you have baristas to grind a bag of coffee for you, they may ask what kind of machine you need it for.

Espresso shots from Klatch Coffee are pulled at company’s headquarters and roasting facility in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

Espresso is more finely ground than drip coffee, and an espresso shot is often stronger and more complex than a cup of drip coffee.

Klatch Coffee ground beans—on the left, ground for pour-overs, and on the right, ground for espresso—are seen at the company’s headquarters and roasting facility in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

If you go to a big box store this holiday season, you may see as many Keurig machines on its shelves as brewers. Keurig machines brew cups of coffee from K-cups, single-use containers filled with pre-ground coffee. Nespresso is a similar product with pods instead of K-cups.

Nespresso is more like espresso, and Keurig is more like drip coffee, according to a Business Insider article.

Both products offer convenience, but Perry pointed out their coffees are very expensive and customers have no control over the outcome.

Fresh coffee beans await roasting at Klatch Coffee’s headquarters and roasting facility in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

The coffee

Perry has three pieces of equipment on her kitchen counter at home: a brewer, an espresso machine and a coffee grinder.

“If you are doing home espresso, you need to have a grinder. It is life-changing,” said Perry. “It doesn’t have to be a $500 purchase. You can get a great grinder for $100.”

Klatch is big on whole beans and fresh grinding.

“Think of grinding your coffee like peeling a banana. That oxidation that occurs, the same exact thing happens with coffee,” Perry said.

Air causes coffee beans to lose freshness, people should only grind as much as they need and reseal the bag or put the coffee in an airtight container away from light and heat.

Freshly roasted coffee beans, labeled with their identification, are seen at Klatch Coffee’s headquarters and roasting facility in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, ready to be packaged and sold. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

Klatch’s coffee bags have stickers on the back with the date the coffee was roasted. People should wait at least five to seven days after that date to start using the beans because they have high levels of carbon dioxide. Some coffees are sold in bags with “degassing” valves that release carbon dioxide without exposing the beans to outside air.

Visual test

At Klatch’s headquarters, Perry demonstrated an easy way to test the freshness of your coffee. She put some grounds in a bowl and then poured water over them from a pot with a long, narrow spout. She said you can do the same thing in your coffee brewer’s filter basket.

Fresh coffee beans float to the top, demonstrating their quality, at Klatch Coffee’s headquarters and roasting facility in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

“As soon as the water hits the coffee, you should see a bloom happen. See how it’s bubbling up? That’s what you want your coffee to do. If we were using stale coffee, you would see your coffee grounds would not be lifted up. They’d just be sitting at the bottom.”

“Ninety percent of the coffee experience is the aromatics. So having fresh coffee dramatically changes your experience,” she said.

“Coffee gets one-noted as it ages. What we want about coffee is all the complexity.”

The taste test

“The way that you brew coffee is called extraction,” said Perry. “We’re essentially turning water brown. So the two big terms that we’ll use are overextraction and underextraction.”

Overextraction happens when people don’t use enough coffee and have a low ratio of coffee to water.

“Overextracted is all the way in the back of the tongue, one-note and bitter,” said Perry. “The majority of the coffee you’re going to taste out there is overextracted.”

Generic coffee makers don’t hold enough coffee, she said.

“Use more coffee is what I almost always tell people.” Instead of brewing a 12-cup pot, brew an eight-cup pot and fill up your coffee basket.”

She said a good rule of thumb is 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for every 6 to 8 ounces of water.

“Make sure you’re using water you would drink. Coffee is 98% water,” she added.

Underextraction is when you don’t extract enough of the flavor of the coffee into the water. The water may not be hot enough or pass through the grounds too quickly.

“The coffee is thin-tasting. It’s usually pretty sour when it’s underextracted as well. You’re going to taste it in the front of your mouth. So when you take that sip of coffee there’s nothing in the back. It’s one-noted. Coffee should always be complex.”

Heather Perry, chief executive officer of the rapidly growing Klatch Coffee and an award-winning barista, explains the various tastes of an espresso shot, starting with the crema at the company’s headquarters and roasting facility in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

Perry gave a lesson on how to begin experiencing espresso. She said take a shot, skim off some of the foam, called crema, and see what it tastes like. Next, taste the beverage under the foam. Finally, stir them together and taste again.

“You’re crema tells you a lot about the shot. It tells you it’s fresh. It tells you it’s a nice-bodied coffee as well,” said Perry. “Espresso’s going to change from top to bottom. It’s going to change from your first sip to your last sip.”

First steps

Between the grounds, the water and the equipment, there are a lot of variables to master when you get serious about brewing coffee.

“It feels like there’s a lot that’s out to get you,” Perry said. “That’s why if you follow a few basic rules, it sets you up for success.”

Luis Miranda, director of coffee culture, said Klatch cafes dial in their espresso machines — that means make adjustments to their settings — six to eight times a day and are constantly pulling shots to get optimal results.

He compared brewing coffee to driving a car.

“You have to learn a lot of things to drive a car. What are the symbols on the road? How much brake do you do? How much should I turn? At the start, it’s not going very good. You’re in the high school parking lot with your dad and you’re not having a good time. But give it six months and you’re perfectly fine. You don’t even think about it anymore.

Don’t be afraid to fail, Perry said.

“It’s like the first pancake. Toss the first pot. Try it again.”

Information: klatchcoffee.com